


Aftermath

by InkyNix



Category: Apex Legends (Video Games)
Genre: Broken Ghost Spoilers, Hurt/Comfort, Panic Attacks, Pre-Lobalore, specifically for the very last quest, tw emeto
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-07-15
Updated: 2020-07-15
Packaged: 2021-03-04 22:00:37
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,727
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25283524
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/InkyNix/pseuds/InkyNix
Summary: Neither of them were expecting Revenant to say what he did. Least of all Loba.orLoba has a not good very bad night and Bangalore takes care of her.
Relationships: Loba Andrade/Bangalore | Anita Williams
Comments: 9
Kudos: 72





	Aftermath

“For the first time in a long time… I don’t have a clue.”

Anita figured that would be the end of their conversation, considering how pale Loba had become by the end of hers and Revenant’s conversation. Loba would go figure things out alone on her ship and Anita would head back to the Apex compound to do her own thinking. It seemed like a reasonable plan to her. Then she heard a faint chuckle coming from the other woman.

It started as small, tiny chuckles that rose into giggles. Those crescendoed into peals of manic laughter as everything that had just occurred in the past few weeks slammed into Loba all at once. If she looked like she’d been hit by a freight train before, now she looked like the train had stopped and purposefully run her over again with Revenant himself as the conductor.

“Thigh-highs-“ Anita’s voice did nothing to break through Loba’s clouded senses. The gun she was holding slipped out of her hand and Anita lunged to catch it before it hit the ground and put a bullet in someone’s thigh. She realized that she was close enough to see the tears streaming down Loba’s cheeks as she straightened. The tears mixed with the red make-up she had smeared around her eyes, making it run and tinge the salted water with a soft red hue. It was a little freaky, to be frank. Joker-esqe.

Anita managed to find Loba’s hand, guiding it into hers, hoping it would ground her. She briefly thought that she looked green before the other woman retched in her laughter. Anita barely had time to help Loba lean over the side of the cliff face they were standing on before she started to throw up nothing but bile. Anita pulled her braids back and cursed inwardly. How long had it been since she ate? Since she slept?

Loba groaned as her stomach finished purging itself, barely containing a sob as her knees buckled and Anita guided her to the ground so she wouldn’t fall. Her whole world had fallen apart around her all, at least, that’s how Anita perceived it. Her mom had done something similar after the death of her brother; she’d surely done the same after the death of Anita’s. Anita bit her lip. Fuck. She couldn’t leave her like this. She might try something stupid, and Anita couldn’t run that risk.

“Hey, easy, I’ve gotcha.” Anita said gently. It was rather awkward considering everything that had been happening between them over the past few weeks, but she had spent enough time with shell-shocked soldiers to push past it. “Can you get up? You need to lay down”

“Fuck that, I need-“ Loba cut herself off before shaking her head, her shoulders starting to tremble, “I don’t know, fuck, I don’t know-“

“Eyes on me, Loba.” Anita pulled Loba up so they were forehead-to-forehead, making pure eye contact. Loba’s eyes were slightly clearer now, not nearly as glossed over as they were during her… attack? Yeah, Anita would call it a panic attack. One that she had been putting off, almost.

“He’s lying, he has to be lying, he can’t just-“ Loba stammered, scrambling to make some sense of all of this. Anita knew better. What Revenant had told her? About wanting to die and being more than willing to help Loba make that happen? It made sense. If Revenant wanted Loba dead, hell, any of them dead, he would have done the job ages ago.

“Don’t focus on that right now.” Anita says, keeping their gazes locked tight.

“How can I not focus on that?! I’ve been waiting for this opportunity for twenty-five goddamn years!” Loba practically screamed in Anita’s face, but she held firm. Not the first time, not the last. “All I’ve wanted was to see that demon dead, and now he tells me that I’m his fucking savior? I’m helping him! I’m making his goddamn dreams come true! I want that bastard to suffer!”

“I know, I know.” Anita kept her voice calm as Loba started to hyperventilate. She squeezed Loba’s hand. Stay here, stay with me. “But you need to be calm if you wanna figure out your next plan, yeah?”

“I don’t have a next plan. That _was_ my next plan. Fuck, that was my _last_ plan.” Loba was choking on her own words, “I’m supposed to be dead right now.”

Anita pulled Loba’s hand up so it was resting on her chest. “You need to breathe, match me, okay? In, out. In, out. Slowly.”

It took a minute of prompting, but Loba finally started to follow Anita’s instructions drawing shaky breaths, holding them, and letting them go. A fresh wave of tears accompanied the adrenaline crash and Anita wiped them away with her free hand. This was so unlike the woman Anita had assumed she was. She had a feeling that Loba would be humiliated later, if she wasn’t already.

“There we go, that’s better.” Anita murmured as Loba’s breathing finally evened out enough so that she could get enough proper oxygen, “Can you get up? I’ll get you inside your ship.”

It took some trial and error, but Loba finally managed to get to her feet with Anita’s support, stumbling forward like a newborn giraffe. She looked exhausted, and it only further confirmed Anita’s hunch that she had followed Bloodhound’s advice a little too closely.

The ship was pretty swanky, though that was to be expected when dealing with Loba. Nice décor, a plethora of clothes, shoes, jewelry, make-up, all those things Anita considered prissy until she had met some of the other legends. She even had a pretty advanced computer set-up, likely to scout out targets for her next ‘job’. Sure enough, there was a map with a literal X to mark the spot showing a plethora of planets, along with some digital tacks to show where she had already struck.

Disregarding it for now, Anita guided Loba over to the bed and she flopped into it, melting into the plush covers as the last of her energy escaped her. Anita almost missed the “Thanks” that Loba mumbled at her.

“Don’t mention it.” Anita laid a hand on her back, sitting on the side of the bed. It smelled nice in here, like that perfume that Loba wore when she wasn’t on the job. She looked her over. Sleeping in pumps and what was essentially a corset couldn’t be comfortable. “Hey, can we get these clothes off of you? You’ll be pissed in the morning if you scuff your shoes.”

“Made for scuffing.” She murmurs before gesturing weakly in the direction of a dresser, “Second drawer from the bottom, shirts.”

Anita followed her instructions and found a selection of pajama shirts and nightgowns. She grabbed something that looked old and oversized and brought it over the bed. Loba was feebly attempting to kick her heels off with her feet. She had managed one, but it took Anita grabbing the other and pulling to get the other one off.

The top was next. Anita realized two things approximately one and a half seconds after helping Loba sit up and starting to fuss with her corset to little success.

One, she had no idea how a corset worked. Her mother had offered to teach her when she was in her teens, but she had insisted that it was ‘too girly’ and had never bothered to take her back up on her offer. “You’re gonna wanna know these girly things when you grow up, guns or no guns.” Her mother had told her. Anita hadn’t factored other girls into the equation.

Two, and this fact hit Anita full force as she managed to loosen the corset’s ties with Loba’s help, Loba’s body was gorgeous. Tanned skin, lean and toned, chest plush and- no, no no no, this was not the time for that. This was the exact opposite of the time for that. She was essentially sick, if not traumatized. _Pull yourself together, Anita, you’re not that kind of woman._

She let Loba handle her pants on her own before untwining her braids. Her hair was course and curled, dyed red at the bottom. It looked amazing down, in spite of Loba’s exhaustion, but Anita could see why keeping it braided on the job was smarter. It was fuller than Anita expected too, curls cascading down her back and pillowing on her shoulders. A single curl dangled in front of Loba’s eye and Anita pushed it behind her ear without thinking much about it.

Anita cursed inwardly as her thoughts turned selfish once again, bringing herself back to the present by looking at Loba’s ghastly expression. Loba was looking at her, but not really seeing her. Anita hunted for a rag, wetting it with make-up remover she had grabbed off of the vanity before gently cleaning the sweat and smudged make-up off of her face. She didn’t miss the way she leaned into the touch, too tired to argue. The circles under her eyes were darker than Anita had expected them to be, she had touched them up well. She was going to need to eat once she woke up, Anita was sure of it. Luckily she hadn’t ignore her mother’s cooking lessons.

“He might come back.” Loba says quietly, hoarsely, after a few minutes of quiet. “The _demonio_.”

“I’ll keep watch, mmkay?” Anita assured her, “Revenant ain’t gonna get anywhere near you while I’ve got my gun. Go to sleep.”

“What about when you leave?”

Anita had thought about hesitating the same time that the words “I’m not going anywhere.” left her lips. Huh.

Loba searched her eyes, looking for any sign of lying. Apparently, she didn’t find any, because she laid down, burying her face in the pillow. Anita pulled a blanket over her and turned off the light, waiting until she heard the telltale sounds of sleeping before heading over to the window.

Anita had said that she wanted to make things right. She let her emotions get in the way of logic and it had almost cost lives. Plural. Not just Loba’s. She wasn’t about to lose anymore lives, even if one of the lives in question was a princess, for better or for worse.

She sighed before pulling out her phone, scrolling for various breakfast recipes.

**Author's Note:**

> I've had Lobalore feels for so long man, that quest fed me. Oh and the new robot friend is neato too.
> 
> I miiiiiight make a follow-up to this if anyone is particularly interested, but no promises because summer finals are eating me alive emotionally.


End file.
